


if I could hold you, we could work it out

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flying Doctors
Genre: Canon Het Relationship, Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Fluff, Het, Missing Scene, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-17
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2019-01-18 18:57:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12394155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: There was a reason why Tom and Chris were so late to the party.





	if I could hold you, we could work it out

**Author's Note:**

> For October Bingo, song title prompt "Why We Said Goodbye"

"We're going to be late to the party." 

Chris's voice was so quiet that at first it barely penetrated through Tom's dozy slumber. When it did register that she'd spoken to him, he opened his eyes and looked down at her head resting on his chest, found a pair of hazel eyes staring unblinkingly up at him. She was a sight for sore eyes he thought, her cheeks slightly flushed, a small smile playing around her lips and Tom knew, with the kind of memory made dim by time but renewed by recent events, that if he ran his fingers down along her spine, she would arch against him, press her body even closer to his. So that was just what he did and when the effect was exactly as he'd anticipated, he gave in to further temptation, slid his hand up to cup the back of her head, pulling her head down towards his and kissing her. 

He lost track of time for a bit after that and when he finally came back to himself, they'd shifted so that Chris was lying on her back and he was looking down on her and if she hadn't broken the kiss, there had been only one way things were going to end. Again. 

"We need to get a move on." Except her voice showed zero enthusiasm for that plan, about as much enthusiasm as he felt. 

"That's what I was trying to do," he joked, rolling his hips against hers in a motion that was anything but funny. Still though, her eyes sparkled and a smile peeked through her bitten lips as she managed to not quite stifle a gasp. 

"You know what I mean. If we don't show up, they're going to send a search party out for us. What do you think people would say if they found us like this?" 

Tom pretended to consider it as he tucked a strand of non-existent hair behind her ear. "Some combination of 'I knew it,' and 'It's about time,' probably," he guessed. He knew she agreed with his reasoning when she pressed her lips into a thin line and looked down. When her eyes met his again, she was smiling. 

"And what would we say to that?" she asked and he knew she wasn't just asking for the sake of the town. After all she probably had more questions for him than he had for her - town gossip for years had been that she'd never got over Tom, that talk had even reached Tom's ears. His own feelings on the matter had been something more a mystery, even to him, but that mystery had solved itself in a hurry the day before when he'd listened to a bus crash, knowing that she was on it. For those few horrible moments before he'd heard her voice barking orders in the background as the bus driver radioed for help, he'd imagined a life without her and all the postcards and letters and phone calls of the last few months were suddenly a pale and paltry substitute for all they could have had. Seeing her lying in a hospital bed had only cemented that knowledge and today, when he'd gone to the hospital when he'd known she was being discharged, he'd ostensibly done it to make sure she got back to the pub safely, so that she could shower and change before the party. He'd meant that too, right up until the moment he'd stood outside her door and looked down at her and he couldn't have stopped himself from kissing her any more than he could have stopped the sun from rising. 

He couldn't stop himself from kissing her now either, a brief brush of his lips over hers and when he drew back, he traced her cheek with his fingers. "I don't think we'll need to tell them anything," he told her honestly; after all, the town had been waiting for them to get back together for years. But because he knew that wouldn't satisfy her, he continued, "But I'll tell you what, Chris... I thought I'd lost you... for good this time. And looking at you in that hospital bed... looking at you in this one..." Her cheeks darkened along with her eyes and he smiled, kissed her forehead. "I can't for the life of me remember why we said goodbye." 

Chris's hand moved up, her fingers tangling in the short hair at the nape of his neck. It sent a shiver down his spine, raised goosebumps on his skin and he didn't try to hide the effect she was having on him. "Africa... my dad..." she reminded him, as if he could ever forget. "Does that make this third time lucky?" 

This time he didn't even pretend to consider it. "I'd like that," he said and the smile that lit up her face was its own kind of answer. "I'd like that a lot." Another kiss and then words were falling from his lips before he had time to process them. "Come back with me." Her eyes went wide and he kept on talking as a plan took shape in his mind. "You hate Melbourne, you said so yourself... and, ok, I know that where I am at the moment makes Cooper's Crossing look like a thriving metropolis, but it's a good life, Chris... I think you'd really like it... and goodness knows, we could do with another doctor out there..." 

"So this is a business proposition then?" He opened his mouth to protest but closed it quickly when he saw her grinning. 

"Of a sort," he said finally, perfectly serious. "I want to be with you, Chris... Here, Melbourne, the Kimberly, I don't care where it is." He meant every word and maybe that showed in his face because her smile was beaming, brilliant, the best thing he'd seen in years. "I don't ever want to say goodbye to you again." 

Chris swallowed hard and it took a few seconds before she could speak. "Then don't," she whispered as she pulled his head down towards her and there were far more interesting things to do than talk. 

They were very late to the party. 

But once their news got out, no-one cared, least of all them.


End file.
